Russia’s extension of zero-rate agriculture tax welcomed
Cherkizovo Group has said the reset of income tax will be positive on its business as well as the industry as a whole. On a broad scale, it will also allow manufacturers to maintain long-term investment programmes as well as increase competitiveness, which is of great importance since Russia joined the WTO, Cherkizovo said.
General director for Cherkizovo Sergei Mikhailov said: “This decision will allow domestic agricultural companies to successfully implement new investment projects in the pork segment, where the payback period is higher.”
After the announcement to reset the tax in Russia was made, Cherkizovo said it would look to implement various large-scale investment projects in its poultry and pork divisions.
In its pork division, Cherkizovo said it had completed the construction of modern production facilities in the Lipetsk, Tambov and Voronezh regions. “The commissioning of the new facilities will allow the production capacity of the Group to reach 180,000 tonnes of live weight per year,” said the company. While in Cherkizovo’s poultry sector, plans were being made to double the capacity of the Brynsk and Penza clusters.
However, the largest investment the company announced was that it would undertake the construction of an agriculture facility in Elets, in the Lipetsk region. The company said the investment will be worth more than RUB20bn and will include a hatchery for 240m eggs a year, as well as five broiler sites for 10m birds. The new-build will also have the capacity to process 24 tonnes (t) of poultry per hour.
Once the complex is complete, Cherkizovo will have a production capacity in excess of 500,000t in live weight. The company expects production at the new site to reach full capacity by 2015.
